Arizona weekly enterprise., 1887-07-09
Mesquite on Desert Land.

The people of Phenix are moving in the matter of the ruling of the General Land office relative to desert entries upon lands that grow occasional mesquite trees, and they truthfulEy set forth the following reasonsfor modification. of its action, and pray that more liberal rul- ing may prevail:
 We, the undersigned citizens of the Territory of Arizona, do respectfully so- lclt the attention ot the Hon. The Sec retary of the Interior, to the following representations, which we believe to be founded on the facts, which appertain to the general question of Desert Land En- try Tn thus Territory, as affected by what IS understood to be the intention of the Hon. Commissioner of the General Land office, namely:-
 To withdraw all government land from entry under the provisions of the Desert Land Act, upon which grow more than four (4) mesquite trees to the acre. and to cancel all such entries hitherto made on such land.
 Therefore, we respectfully assert that mesquite IS not timber in any just inter- pretatloD of the term; that it is merely fre-wood and useful and salable only for that purpose, although it may be possi- ble to make small articles out of wood (as curiosities) but nothing of practical use or value, owing to its brittleness and lack of fibre and size. Mesquite will not produce a log of more than two (2) or thr2a (3) feet in length at that heigth, the gnarled and stunted trunk spreads into dwarfed and scraggy branches, and is usually decayed in both trunk and branch.
 That mesquite trees grow upon land which will not without artificial irriga- ton, produce spear of grass, or any other vegetation, except grease brush, sage-brush, palo verde, another shrub tree, and cactus, and is clear proof of the desert character of the land, rather than argument against such character.
 That mesquite trees grow upon high sandy knolls, which will not even pro- duce grease-brush or sage brush, and which would be valueless even if water was carried thereon, artifcially.
 That large bodies of land within this Territory, bearingmesquite trees in much larger numbers than four (4) to the acre. are by the entire absence of natural water supply, without artificial irriga- tion, desert land,
 That to withdraw land of this charac- ter from entry under the Desert Land Act, will cause great loss to bona tide settlers, and will seriously check immi- grafton, the forming of new holdings, and the employment of capital in clearing, ditching and reclamation of such land, and without irrigation they are absolute. ly worthless.
 That the current price of mesquite wood will give little or no margin oi profit oyer the expense of cutting and hauling tomarket, conseaently it offers II | temptation whatever, to the mere specu lator in wood, and is not done except al first necessary step toward the reclama tion of the land.
 That complaint against parties for cut ting this wood of the government lant are generally ignored by the grand jurie on account of the trifing character O the injury. If indeed, it should no rather be considered a benefit, and al enhancement of value.
 | That alreauy, two million or dollars have been expended in constructing ditch es, and clearing and retaining land il the Salt river valley alone, and it will re quire as much more capital to thorough, I t-rec4art -rec44atnr he land Tn this and adjacent val leys, from it's desert condition; a largt amount of the land thus reclaimed doe
 in it's natural state produce mesquite, an
 we aver that not one acre of it at all, vii
 produce an agricultural crop, without 1T
 rIgation.
 We declare this matter to be of vita
 importance to the present settlers withi this Territory, who are spending thei
 money, employing their energy in tn reclamation of this land, and their infu , ence in inducing new corners to locate. And it seems proper for Us to respec fully but earnestly remonstrate again' any action of the Commissioner, whic shall nullify the efforts of the people wh ; are content to endure the hardships of l frontier life, for the purpose of buildn
 up new state for the Federal Union.
 We therefore ask the Hon. The Secr'
 tary of the Interior to rule that lar
 bearing mesquite is not timber land, wit in the meaning of Section II, of the De : ert Land Act, and IS subject to entry u der said act.